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Country Style magazine visits a red brick barn set behind a miner’s cottage on the outskirts of Castlemaine in Victoria’s goldfields.

What’s surprising is it faces out over grassy mullock heaps on the creek flats of Chewton and, like most of the neighbouring buildings, looks as if it has been there for a century or more. But this traditional-looking barn is just three years old and is the result of an obsession by Daniel Burgermeister and Glenny Eastwood who have built and decorated the barn using only second-hand materials.

For the overall design, they drew ideas from the surrounding architecture, as well as their regular travel to Europe. “We wanted to build something that suited the historic landscape around here, and we were also inspired by the architecture we’ve seen in France, says Daniel. “We just like the style of the building, it’s much like the dilapidated old barns you see in this area.”

Daniel, who has an industrial design background, had never built anything before, but the project soon became – and still is – an all-consuming passion to hunt down and use the most appropriate second-hand materials and fittings.

Used bricks were found locally, walls and ceiling were paneled with recycled lining boards and old floorboards were reversed to lend a rustic look. “Every single thing in the building is second-hand,” says Daniel.

Daniel and Glenny have invested their hearts ad souls into every stage of the barn’s development, not least of all the fittings and furnishings for which they scoured markets both here and overseas. The end result is a testament to their skill in imbuing the barn with aged finishes, as it truly looks as though it was always there.